2017 Coastal Master Plan

The state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) wants feedback on its list of projects for the next year. Officials are holding a series of public meetings. The first meeting was last night in Belle Chasse.

The state’s big-picture plan to protect and restore the coast is updated every five years — it includes plans for things like river diversions and rebuilding marshes. That’s the Master Plan. But the money for those projects is approved on a yearly basis — the Annual Plan.

Governor John Bel Edwards has declared Louisiana’s ongoing coastal land loss a state of emergency. It’s part of the state’s strategy to speed up coastal restoration projects.

Environmental permits can slow down big restoration projects. The Army Corps of Engineers, for example, says it could take up to five years to get federal permits to open up the Mississippi River and use diversions to create new land.